F1 | McLaren shows excellent race pace at Monza with Lando Norris leading the way
At Monza, McLaren confirmed an excellent race pace, with Lando Norris as the absolute reference, completing his run in clean air without showing tyre degradation. However, there is still room for improvement over a single lap, as the drivers believe there is more to extract, given that the Italian track does not fully highlight the strengths of the MCL39.
The circuit changes, but McLaren remains at the front. Even at Monza, a track that is not the ideal hunting ground for the MCL39 — which does not excel in aerodynamic efficiency with low-downforce configurations — the Woking team closed Friday at the top, aware that they cannot rely on the same margin they have enjoyed at other events.
This is a familiar theme, exactly as twelve months ago when the MCL38 also struggled with the same problem, further complicated back then by some difficulty in managing front tyre graining, one of the most evident limits the engineers worked hard to improve for this year’s car.
Both aspects become especially important at the “Temple of Speed” and can prove decisive in defining the on-track performance. It is true that in the first practice session, McLaren dedicated part of the running to aerodynamic correlation tests and ran with more conservative engine mappings compared to rivals, but the overall balance remained that of a rather uneventful session.
Throughout the season, it has often been seen that McLaren struggles to extract the full potential of the car in qualifying more than over long runs. The same scenario is appearing again at Monza, with a car more difficult to push to the limit on low fuel, resulting in some minor mistakes, as has been the case for other teams as well.
This factor becomes even more relevant with such tight gaps: in FP2, the top ten drivers were covered by less than four-tenths of a second, meaning that even a few hundredths can shake up the order and complicate the race, forcing drivers into recovery efforts.
“At the moment, we are close. It’s not bad, there are some things to improve, and being in first place is positive. We improved some things from FP1 to FP2, but we are close; we need to try to make the gap wider to make life easier,” Norris commented at the end of the day, emphasizing that it is still positive to be leading despite this not being one of the best tracks for the MCL39, in a scenario opposite to what they experienced at Zandvoort.
In the Netherlands, the long corners and the ability to run higher downforce without worrying too much about aerodynamic efficiency highlighted the car’s strengths, particularly the front end, which in ideal conditions gives drivers greater freedom of action.
“It’s even harder than I would like. This is a completely different level of downforce compared to Zandvoort, where we were the fastest and it was fantastic. Here it’s the opposite. But it’s no surprise; we expected it,” Norris added.
“We are not at the same level on this type of low-downforce track compared to circuits where you run with high downforce. The competition has closed in and makes things a little more complicated, but we are still in a good position. There are small things to improve, and we will get better,” he continued.
While there is still work to do on the single-lap pace, the race pace situation appears closer to what has been seen at other events, with McLaren confirming itself among the favorites. It is true that direct comparison is not simple, as some drivers were caught in traffic or made more mistakes, while Lando Norris was able to run in clean air for almost the entire stint, recording very solid reference times.
However, starting at the front will be crucial, as demonstrated by Oscar Piastri, who spent a long time in the traffic of Fernando Alonso and Liam Lawson during his race simulation. Running in dirty air can significantly affect lap times, not just the single-lap performance. Once free, however, the Australian driver was able to return to strong pace.
On the same wavelength, Oscar Piastri, who skipped FP1 to leave space for rookie Alex Dunne in the session reserved for newcomers, experienced some difficulties with the softer tyre compound, but there remains room for improvement.
“I would say today was a good day. Obviously, having not done FP1, I had to make up some work in FP2, but I felt I got off to a good start, and the car felt quite good. Maybe we slightly missed the setup with the soft tyre, but the second lap was quite good, considering it was just my second lap on that tyre. So I feel fairly satisfied; I just need to refine things a bit more tomorrow,” said Piastri.
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